My Temple Tour

[Bert Vierstra]

If you are asking me....

I am a follower, not a real believer 8)

But I sometimes can enjoy it very much, the colorful gatherings

[Roy]

Jimbo, you bring up faith. Faith is belief, a blind belief based on whatever religion one is raised in. For the Hindu/Dharma, faith is most like niskala…the unseen. For the Balinese, niskala is as real as sekala…the seen. As with the words art, love or faith, there are no Balinese words, but there is complete understanding.

Faith is a western word. It had no meaning here. Do the Hindu/Dharma believe? NO. They know. There is no question, nor is there any doubt. Faith has nothing at all to do with Bali Hinduism.

[Jimbo]

Either I am being obtuse or I just do not understand. I know many who "know" they are right and have no doubts but they are not just Hindu's. However I can understand your meaning Roy for those that are born balinese Hindu's. You however were a Catholic and as such must have made a concious decision to "Believe" As such you must have faith or am I missing something :-)

[Tommy]

Personally when i was younger i was never devoted to any religious beliefs. "Automatically" being a protestant from birth i resigned from the Swedish Church in my teens since i felt it didn't suit me. Every since i was a kid i've always been more intrested in Astronomy, Cosmology and devoted my thoughts (and book-reading) much more to these big question rather than religious theology. After some time i grew to understand the relationship between religion and humanity and also to some part our existence. When i first came to Bali my world got turned upside-down. I got to see the great deal of positives that came out of hinduism and being combined with intriquet music and art... it devoured me. I have never had any real sence of fitting in with christianity and it's basic rules set out for the world. The "big" questions to me are not as big anymore. As cosmology and astronomy describe our beautiful physical reality it lacks human comfort and spirituality... to me hindu dharma forefills this purpose. I've also grown to take an interest into buddhism but chances are i won't become one since my fianceé is hindu. Being from Scandinavia we have belived in "dewas" (gods and half-gods) through nordic mythology since the age of vikings.. it's not that big of a step to hinduism in that respect. What cosmology and astronomy taught me though is to never think inside a frame... there's a hell of a big and complex universe out there.. and i'm not sure if it's in our human capacity to understand it all and see the big picture. :wink:

[JAMIE]

ROY...thanks for the peek into your hindu world in Bali and thanks for taking the time . our backgrounds are very much the same , as you i was raised in the curch , and im repeating the only thing in know with my kids . I think its great that you guys (and gals) have adapted a new faith so foriegn to your faith you were given as a child , in my book as long as you pray to something that teachs you not to hurt someone else and love the people around you its all good . As Ive hurd you guys (gals) say before , your a stanger in a starge land ...very cool jamie